Weather Ices Oregon Roads

From the ice-coated highways of northwestern Oregon to flooded homes in northeastern Oregon, weather created serious problems across the state on Sunday.

An overnight dose of freezing rain turned highways into ice rinks in the Willamette Valley from Eugene to Portland.

And in the northeastern Oregon town of Union, four homes and a church were flooded when an ice jam sent Catherine Creek flowing over its banks.

After nearly a week of subfreezing temperatures, a storm system warmed things up. But the rain that the new system brought created big problems.

In Klamath Falls, the roof of a J.C. Penney store in the Klamath Mall collapsed Sunday morning. No one was injured because the mall hadn’t opened for business when the roof fell in shortly before 8 a.m.

The collapse occurred when the rain fell on top of packed snow that was left over from earlier, colder storms.

Hundreds of traffic accidents occurred Saturday night and Sunday.

Oregon 99W was closed throughout the day Sunday after a tanker truck overturned shortly after 5 a.m. near Sherwood, spilling about 30 gallons of sodium hydroslufite onto the roadway.

The truck contained about 5,000 gallons of the chemical, which can irritate the skin and impair breathing for those who are in close contact with it.